


Try to Outfox a Fox

by Fanf1cgurl



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: 74th Hunger Games, Chariot - Freeform, Death, Foxface - Freeform, Hunger Games, Interview, Multi, Through the eyes of Foxface, Violence, different point of view, nightlock berries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:55:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28863636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanf1cgurl/pseuds/Fanf1cgurl
Summary: This is the story of Cassie Himmel, more commonly known as Foxface, facing the dangers of the 74th Hunger Games
Relationships: No Relationships





	Try to Outfox a Fox

Of course my mother told me their was no chance I'd be reaped. Their were hundreds of girls in District 5. My name's only in their 4 times. But of course, on the morning of the reaping, just like every other morning of the reaping, my heart was pounding like crazy.

I tightened my grip on the pot plant I was carrying to one of my father's client's home. My hands were sweating, and my grip was reluctantly slipping. I tried to haul it up, using my thigh for a momentarily resting pad. The pot was quite light, actually. I was just petrified for the reaping.

I'd almost got to the man's house. I was walking on the entrance to his house when BANG. The pot slipped from my sweaty hands and smashed on his lawn. Soil splattered all over the freshly treated grass, and the plant fell out of the soil.

I cupped my hands over my mouth and gasped. The man came running out of his house, obviously alerted by the sound of the breaking of the pot. It must have landed quite hard, to have smashed on grass.

"I am so sorry!" I cried, bending down and trying to pick up as much of the pot and the soil and the plant as I could.

"JUST GET OFF MY LAWN, KID!" the man yelled. "YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE AS IT IS!"

I nodded, then quickly ran back to the plant shop. My father looked at me and raised his eyebrows. "May I ask why your arms are covered in soil?"

"Don't bother," I muttered, walking upstairs to our home. My mother was waiting for me, holding a bright red dress up for me. The same one I wore every year since I finished growing.

"Mum, how many times do I have to tell you!" I exclaimed. "I don't like that dress! It clashes with my hair!"

"But it fits you so well! And looks so good on you!" She placed the dress on the couch, and grabbed my pointed pale face, and started squishing my cheeks.

"Stop, mum!" I groaned, pulling away from her. She caught sight of my soil-covered arms.

"What's that all about?"

I rolled my eyes. "Don't bother asking."

She shook her head. "OK, straight to the bath with you, Cassie!" I groaned, and reluctantly walked to the bathroom.

I had a quick bath to wash off all the soil on me. I then dried myself, and my mother forced the red dress onto me. She did my flaming red hair in some extravaganza style, and made me look in the mirror.

"Oh, Cassie!" she cried. "You look so beautiful!"

I stared at my own pointed pale face in the mirror, my amber eyes, and my flaming red hair. At least the style my mum had done hid the white tips of my hair. Even if I cut them off, they always seemed to grow back.

"It… it's time to go to the reaping now," my mum said, and we walked downstairs to the garden shop where my father was waiting. As the three of us walked to the reaping, my legs felt like lead. They quickly took my blood and put down my name.

"Cassie Himmel… fifteen years old… please go stand with the other girls your age," the peacekeeper grunted.

I walked to the line and stood next to my best friend, Lei Phillips. She, like every other year, was completely cool about the reaping.

"Hey, Cassie," she said and shakily waved. "Stop worrying. Your name's in their four times out of hundreds! The chances are so low."

"But everyone else's are so low," I muttered. "What would be the best tactic?"

Lei rolled her eyes. "I don't know. And it doesn't matter, because you're not going to be reaped. We go through this every single year."

I looked out to the empty stage as the lines of teenagers filled up. "I think the best tactic would be to just run, use your wits, and just focus on surviving, not fighting."

"Maybe…" Lei started, but then the advisor, Freowine Fernandez walked up to the stage, and to the microphone.

"Hello, District 5!" he cried into the microphone. A few people cheered. "Now, before we do the reaping for the 74th annual Hunger Games, we must watch a quick educational video about why we must carry out the annual Hunger Games.

On a screen, a projected video played, the same video they played every single year. As it played, my hands started sweating. I kept trying to swallow, but it felt like I was swallowing nothing but air, in a useless attempt to keep myself calm.

I could barely hear the video, but of course I'd seen it so many times. The first eleven times I was so calm, without a worry in the world. I tried to focus on my breathing as my panicking increased. In… and out… in… and out…

It's gonna be OK… it's not gonna be me… I stared at Freowine Fernandez intently, just as we was pulling a single slip out of the hundreds in a bowl. That poor girl…

"Cassie Himmel!" Freowine cried, reading my name through the microphone.

It felt like my name echoed through the entirety of District 5 a hundred times before I could actually process what was happening. Lei caught her sob in a choke. A thousand different pairs of eyes burned all over my body. I slowly walked to the stage. Or at least it felt slow.

I looked around at all the parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins of the teenagers. And all the people who weren't up for the reaping. They were all staring at me. I caught my parent's eyes. My mother was crying, and my father nodded to me.

I looked back at the other teenagers who could have been a tribute. Lei was crying. She obviously didn't see this coming.

I clumsily climbed up the stage, trying to hold back my tears. Freowine grinned at me. "And now for the boys!" He flamboyantly walked over to the boy's bowl and pulled out a single slip. "Jastin Graff!"

Jastin walked up to the stage. He did it at a better speed than I did. He still looked pretty shattered, but in better condition than I was. I kind of knew him. He was in my class. We never paid much attention to each other. He had heaps of friends, was a social butterfly and great at making friends. I had one friend, terrible at making friends, and more of an introvert. She only had Lei because Lei was an introvert, too. They'd been made partners for an assignment in grade 3, and then we'd sort of just grown closer.

"Shake hands," Freowine said. We shook hands. Jastin's hand was sweaty, and I noticed it, too, was trembling. The doors behind the stage opened and we walked in. I'd always wondered what it looked like behind these doors, but now it didn't seem to matter. It was all a blur. Jastin and I were forced to split up, and I went in a room. I guess now my friends and family would have their time to say goodbye.

I sat down on a seat, trying to hold in my tears. If I cried now, then I probably wouldn't stop crying, and then I would have tears for the cameras. No, I didn't want to be seen as the weak girl. It didn't take long for my parents to enter the room.

"CASSIE!" My mother cried, her face red from crying. She ran up to me and threw her arms around me. My father came around and wrapped his arms around both of us.

"You're coming home, OK?" he said, clutching onto my arms.

"I… I have no fighting skills," I said. "I think I'll just focus on surviving, and stay away from fights."

"Make an alliance with someone. As many as you can," my mother said.

"What's the point? We're going to have to stab each other in the back eventually — there can only be one winner," I pointed out.

"Just…" my father looked at me, plead in his eyes. "Just come home to us, Cassie. We believe in you."

"And we love you," my mother reminded me. "More than you could ever imagine." Then the peacekeepers came and took them away, just in time for Lei to come bursting in.

"So I wasn't going to get reaped, hey?" I found myself smirking, trying to keep the humour up.

"Shut up," Lei snapped, throwing her arms around me. I found myself crying into her dark chocolate-coloured hair. "I can't believe… I never thought…" She gulped up air.

I raised my eyebrows as she pulled away from me. "Just admit it, Lei. You were wrong."

"You're on about that, and you're about to be sent to a fight to the death?" Lei cried.

I pursed my lips, then nodded. "I guess. W-well… goodbye, I guess…"

"I'll see you in a few weeks, Cassie," Lei said, her warm brown eyes staring straight into my amber ones. "You promise?"

"I-I guess so," I said, although I was less than 1% sure I'd be able to go through with that promise. The peacekeepers entered, and started bringing Lei away, and I caught a glimpse of my favourite person in the world for the last time.

The peacekeepers led me out of the room to a train which would take me off to the Capitol. They pointed to me a fancy seat next to Jastin. So now we get luxury treatment, shortly before our death?

The two living past victors from District 5, Ivette Li-Sanchez and James Logan approached Jastin and I on the train.

"So, we are your mentors," James mentioned. "We just, like, mentor you and stuff."

"You got that right," Ivette laughed.

I gave Jastin a look of confusion, which he quickly returned.

"Uh, yeah, right. Um, that's cool," Jastin said awkwardly. Thank the gods he was good with people. Or, at least better than me.

Most of the train ride was spent in silence. We arrived at the Capitol to see hundreds of people dressed in odd, fancy clothes with tonnes of makeup and expensive hairstyles from out the window. They were all waving at us. We could hear their deafening cheers from inside the train.

I took one look at them, then quickly turned away. This was it… this was the capitol of Panem, where I'd always wanted to go, but somehow seemed a whole lot less appealing now.

**Author's Note:**

> Chapters will be weekly, mostly on Thursdays :)


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